Agro-morphological Variability of Maize Cultivars in South Benin

In Benin, maize ranks the first among cereal production. Local maize varieties are mainly produced in the southern parts of Benin. The objective of this work was to investigate the agro-morphological diversity of 58 maize cultivars collected from 14 communes in South-Benin. The experimental design used was a block of Fisher (RCB) with 4 replications. Twenty one (21) quantitative and four (04) qualitative descriptors for maize traits were used in this study. From the results obtained, the cultivars were grouped into 3 classes by hierarchical classification both for quantitative traits and qualitative traits, thus indicating that the two categories of traits showed the same level of variability with very highly significant (p < 0.001) or highly significant (p < 0.01)differences. The cultivar collection consisted of 13 early cultivars (Group 1), 18 cultivars of intermediate cycle (Group 2) and 27 late cultivars (Group 3). In addition, the phenotypic variability of cultivars was more related to their agronomic and physiological behaviors than their geographic origin. The evaluated traits permit to identify the cultivars that can be used in the breeding programs so as to make selected cultivars available to producers. Diversity observed among the cultivars could be useful for further study of maize in Benin and conservation of genetic resources.